Emergency Contraception: America's Best-Kept Secret

Do you watch the television show "ER"? During an episode in 1997, Nurse
Hathaway (Carol) offered the option of emergency contraception pills to a young
woman who had just been forced to have sex against her will. It's possible that
between 5 and 6 million people learned about emergency contraception that day.

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, almost 3 million unintended
pregnancies happen each year in the United States. You can imagine why -- a
condom tears, a diaphragm slips out of position, a woman misses two birth
control pills in a row. Or, a couple has gotten "swept away" in the momentum of
lovemaking and has neglected to use birth control. Perhaps a rape has occurred.
Without treatment, eight in 100 women who have had one act of unprotected
intercourse during the second or third week of their cycle are likely to become
pregnant. With emergency contraception, only two women in 100 would be in the
same situation.

What Is Emergency Contraception?

There are two types of emergency contraception pills (ECPs). One is a
combination of estrogen and progestin, and the other is a progestin-only pill.
Depending on when they are taken during the menstrual cycle, ECPs can inhibit or
delay ovulation; inhibit transport of the egg or sperm; or alter the lining of
the uterus to prevent implantation of a fertilized egg.